Shielding structure for housing

ABSTRACT

A shielding structure for a housing includes a number of elastic conductive elements, at least one carrier, and a cover. The elastic conductive elements are distributed along a periphery of an opening portion of the housing. Each elastic conductive element includes a soft material and a conductive material wrapping the soft material. The at least one carrier fixes the elastic conductive elements to the periphery of the opening portion. The cover covers the opening portion and has a conductive layer electrically connected to each conductive material.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 98123231, filed on Jul. 9, 2009. The entirety of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of specification.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a shielding structure for a housing, and more particularly, to a housing shielding structure with elastic conductive elements.

2. Description of Related Art

In electronic products such as notebook computers, cell phones, displays or the like, a conductive layer is usually formed by plating at a seam between a housing and a cover in order to prevent leakage of electromagnetic radiation from between an opening portion of the housing and the cover.

FIG. 1 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a conventional metal shielding structure. Referring to FIG. 1, the shielding structure 100 includes a conductive housing 110 and a conductive cover 120. Inner and outer surfaces of the conductive housing 110 and the conductive cover 120 are processed, for example, by an electroplating process to prevent the electromagnetic radiation leakage. An opening 110 is defined through the surface of the conventional conductive housing 110. In addition, the opening 110 a of the conductive housing 110 is usually covered by the conductive cover 120 and a conductive surface 110 b is formed along a periphery of the opening 110 a of the conductive housing 110 for supporting the conductive cover 120 having the same size as the opening 110 a. The conductive surface 110 b is engaged with the surface of the conductive cover 120. The conductive housing 110 and the conductive cover 120 may be mounted together by fastening (e.g., screws, bolt or the like) or snap-locking. It should be noted that the electromagnetic radiation are easy to escape from between the conductive housing 110 and the conductive cover 120 due to untightness of joint at the conductive surface 110 b between the conductive housing 110 and the conductive cover 120.

FIG. 2 illustrates another structure for preventing the electromagnetic radiation leakage. In this structure, a large number of metal elastic tabs 123 are added onto a circuit board 12 during fabrication of the circuit board 12 and the cover 2 forms a plurality of engaging tabs 211 extending toward the circuit 12, such that after the circuit board 12 is assembled to the housing 1, the metal elastic tab 123 can be just engaged with a protruding flange 112 and the engaging tab 211 is also engaged with the protruding flange 112. As such, a metal sheet 21 of the cover 2 and a metal sheet 111 of the housing 1 can be electrically connected to each other. However, the above-mentioned fabrication process must involve the additional step of soldering the metal elastic tab 123 to a pad 122 of the circuit board 12, which not only increases the material cost but also increases the fabrication cost. In addition, the hook-shaped metal elastic tab 123 is easy to hook a foreign object which may cause the metal elastic tab 123 to deform or break. Thus, the hook-shaped metal elastic tab 123 may affect assembly of the circuit board 12.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention provides a shielding structure for a housing which is capable of preventing the electromagnetic radiation leakage and easy to install.

The present invention provides a shielding structure for a housing, which comprises a plurality of elastic conductive elements, at least one carrier, and a cover. The plurality of elastic conductive elements is distributed along a periphery of an opening portion of the housing. Each of the elastic conductive elements comprises a soft material and a conductive material wrapping the soft material. The at least one carrier fixes the elastic conductive elements to the periphery of the opening portion. The cover covers the opening portion and comprises a conductive layer electrically connected to each of the conductive materials.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the conductive material comprises a conductive fabric or a conductive metal mesh screen.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the soft material comprises a foam. In addition, the material of the foam comprises polyester foam resin or acrylic foam resin.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the housing has a supporting surface and a plurality of slots formed at the periphery of the opening portion, and the at least one carrier comprises a plurality of carriers fixing the elastic conductive elements in the slots, respectively.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the housing comprises a plurality of rivets formed on an inner surface of the housing, and the at least one carrier comprises a plurality of carriers with the rivets inserting through the carriers to fix the carriers to the inner surface of the housing.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the conductive layer and each of the conductive material are electrically connected in a face-to-face contact manner.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the housing, the cover and the elastic conductive elements are closely engaged with one another.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the elastic conductive elements are strip-shaped.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the elastic conductive elements are coplanarly arranged along the periphery of the opening portion.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the elastic conductive elements are slightly higher than the plane at which the opening portion is located.

In view of the foregoing, the housing shielding structure of the present invention can keep the housing, the cover and the elastic conductive elements in a closely engaged state so as to prevent the electromagnetic radiation leakage. In addition, the elastic conductive elements are fixed to the housing by means of the carrier and are received in the slots, thereby preventing the permanent deformation of the elastic conductive elements due to the long time compression and making it easy to install.

In order to make the aforementioned and other features and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a conventional metal shielding structure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view of another structure for preventing the escape of electromagnetic waves.

FIG. 3A is a top view of a shielding structure for a housing according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3B is a bottom view of the housing shielding structure of FIG. 3A.

FIG. 3C is a cross-sectional view of the housing shielding structure of FIG. 3A.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 3A is a top view of a shielding structure for a housing according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3B is a bottom view of the housing shielding structure of FIG. 3A. FIG. 3C is a cross-sectional view of the housing shielding structure of FIG. 3A.

Referring to FIGS. 3A to 3C, the housing shielding structure 210 includes a plurality of elastic conductive elements 220, a plurality of carriers 230, and a cover 240. These elastic conductive elements 220 are distributed along a periphery of an opening portion C of a housing 200. Each elastic conductive element 220 includes a soft material 222 and a conductive material 224 wrapping the soft material 222. The conductive material 224 is, for example, a conductive fabric, a metal mesh screen, or another conductive material. The soft material 222 may be a foam or compressible porous material. The material of the foam is, for example, polyester foam resin or acrylic foam resin. Once the conductive material 224 wraps the soft material 222 and is fixed on the carrier 230, the elastic conductive element 220 is provided with the conduction function of the conductive material 224 as well as the elastically returning function of the soft material 222.

In the present embodiment, a supporting surface 202 is formed along the periphery of the opening portion C of the housing 200 and a plurality of slots 204 is formed through the supporting surface 202. The slots 204 are, for example, rectangular slots and there is no limitation as to the number and location of the slots 204. The slots 204 can receive the elastic conductive elements 220 (which are strip-shaped), respectively, such that when the cover 240 covers the opening portion C, a conductive layer 242 (for example, aluminum foil) of the cover 240 may be electrically connected to each of the elastic conductive elements 220 to prevent the electromagnetic radiation leakage. In addition, the cover 240 may be fastened to the housing 200 by a screw (not shown) threaded into a screw hole 206 of the housing 200.

Referring now to FIG. 3B, the number of the carriers 230 may be one or more. In the present embodiment, an inner surface 208 (opposite to the supporting surface 202) of the housing 200 can be used to fix the plurality of carriers 230. For example, the carriers 230 may be fixed to the inner surface 208 by a plurality of rivets P or other welding materials, respectively. When the carrier 230 is placed with the rivet P inserting through the carrier 230 and a top end of the rivet P is hammered onto the carrier 230, each of the carriers 230 can be stably fixed to the housing 200. However, the carriers 230 of the present invention may be fixed to the housing in another manner other than using the rivets P.

Referring now to FIG. 3C which illustrating a cross-sectional view of the housing shielding structure, the conductive layer 242 is formed on a bottom surface of the cover 240. For example, the conductive layer 242 may be a metal layer formed on the cover 240 by electroplating or attached to the cover 240. The conductive layer 242 is electrically connected to each of the conductive material 224 in a face-to-face contact manner. In addition, once the cover 240 covers the supporting surface 202 of the housing 200, due to the conductivity and elasticity of the elastic conductive elements 220, the housing 200, cover 240 and these elastic conductive elements 220 can be maintained in a elastically close contact state (i.e., they are closely engaged with one another) so as to effectively prevent the electromagnetic radiation leakage.

As shown in FIG. 3C, the elastic conductive elements 220 are coplanarly arranged along the periphery of the opening portion C and slightly higher than the plane at which the opening portion C is located. That is, the elastic conductive elements 220 protrude beyond the periphery of the opening portion C, such that the elastic conductive elements 220 are elastically compressed and in contact with the cover 240 when the cover 240 is closely engaged with the housing 200. Therefore, the elastic conductive elements 220 can still keep its elasticity after being compressed for a long time. In contrast with the conventional metal strips which are easy to deform or break, the elastic conductive elements 220 of the present invention are received in the slots 204 and therefore can keep its elastic returning force. As such, the elastic conductive elements 220 have a longer lifetime and are easy to install.

In summary, the housing shielding structure of the present invention can keep the housing, the cover and the elastic conductive elements in a closely engaged state so as to prevent the electromagnetic radiation leakage. In addition, the elastic conductive elements are fixed to the housing by means of the carrier and are received in the slots, thereby preventing the permanent deformation of the elastic conductive elements due to the long time compression and making it easy to install.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents. 

1. A shielding structure for a housing, comprising: a plurality of elastic conductive elements distributed along a periphery of an opening portion of the housing, each of the elastic conductive elements comprising a soft material and a conductive material wrapping the soft material; at least one carrier fixing the elastic conductive elements to the periphery of the opening portion; and a cover covering the opening portion and comprising a conductive layer electrically connected to each of the conductive materials.
 2. The shielding structure for the housing according to claim 1, wherein the conductive material comprises a conductive fabric or a conductive metal mesh screen.
 3. The shielding structure for the housing according to claim 1, wherein the soft material comprises a foam.
 4. The shielding structure for the housing according to claim 3, wherein the material of the foam comprises polyester foam resin or acrylic foam resin.
 5. The shielding structure for the housing according to claim 1, wherein the housing has a supporting surface and a plurality of slots formed along the periphery of the opening portion, and the at least one carrier comprises a plurality of carriers fixing the elastic conductive elements in the slots, respectively.
 6. The shielding structure for the housing according to claim 1, wherein the housing comprises a plurality of rivets formed on an inner surface of the housing, and the at least one carrier comprises a plurality of carriers with the rivets inserting through the carriers to fix the carriers to the inner surface of the housing.
 7. The shielding structure for the housing according to claim 1, wherein the conductive layer and each of the conductive material are electrically connected in a face-to-face contact manner.
 8. The shielding structure for the housing according to claim 1, wherein the housing, the cover and the elastic conductive elements are closely engaged with one another.
 9. The shielding structure for the housing according to claim 1, wherein the elastic conductive elements are strip-shaped.
 10. The shielding structure for the housing according to claim 1, wherein the elastic conductive elements are coplanarly arranged along the periphery of the opening portion.
 11. The shielding structure for the housing according to claim 10, wherein the elastic conductive elements are slightly higher than the plane at which the opening portion is located. 